Which OnLine Bank is best for our Emergency Savings.

[ShokWaveRider]

Now I am FIREd, I have 3 years of funds in a Credit Union doing nothing. I was wondering if any of use an Online bank for this?

I used to use ING many years ago but it looks like they are now a MegaBank (Capitol One I think).

Personal experiences with $150k+ in an online bank would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[samclem]

Personal experiences with $150k+ in an online bank would be appreciated.

When I looked around 2 years ago, nobody could beat the CD rates at Ally Bank, and that's where I helped my MIL put her money. The early withdrawal penalties are low, so even if you think you might need the money early, picking a longer term CD might be better. I can't offer an opinion on customer service for more complex "bank functions", but the accounts were easy to set up.

 

[diehard1997]

I use Ally, Discover Savings and GE Capital Savings. GE does not integrate with Quicken but they offer the best savings rate of .9 %. All of them were easy to setup and fund.

 

[mpeirce]

I check bankrate.com regularly. It's a pretty good overview of CD and savings rates.

And by the way, ING was always a "megabank", just a Dutch one...

 

[calmloki]

I find TIAA Direct to be very easy to use - don't know if they still allow opening in their 0.75% account, but good bank to do transactions in. Was seduced by Barclays Online 0.9% savings (I'm a penny chaser) and opened an account with them. Thus far I find them more difficult to do deposits and transfers with - but we're making 0.015% more on the money that is in there!

 

[SumDay]

+1 on Ally.

 

[pb4uski]

I use Discover Bank and have been happy. While it was the highest rate when I opened it it now pays 0.8%, which is good but not the highest. I can't be bothered to move it to another online bank for 20 bps. Integration with Quicken is good and I have monthly transfers to my local credit union savings account which work flawlessly.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

My initial question is actually 2 fold.

1) Emergency funds (and yes I am paranoid and keep a lot)
2) My cash investments $500k total will be there. ($250k Insurance per person=$500k)

 

[Animorph]

I'm using Ally. Just opened the account a couple of weeks ago. 0.84% instead of 0.90% interest rate, but the customer service and Quicken downloading looked good. I had to use it after skipping the final step to opening my new account (sign up for online access to your account). No problems.

I'll use it when I have a big cash position for the next year or two's expenses and don't want to put it in a bond fund.

 

[bUU]

We've had our EF at ING Direct for years. Not a problem.

 

[jon-nyc]

I used TIAA but they put in a 5k daily transfer limit in February so I closed them out. I just opened GE Capital Bank as they had the best rate of any bank I had heard of. The forums on fatwallet.com is the best place to find an updated list of the best rates.

 

[Gotadimple]

In addition to Ally, also look at American Express Bank. Once set up it is very easy to move money between accounts. They are not as competitive as Ally, but close.

I love ING for the ease of setting up an account and linking accounts. Unfortunately, their rates are not as competitive now that they are CapOne360.

You may also want to look at bauerfinancial for both star ratings on banks and their lists of best yields on accounts and CDs. I like them better than bankrate. Bank or Credit Union Star Ratings

Rita

 

[jon-nyc]

Here's the thread at fatwallet I referred to:

Best Nationally Available High APY Liquid Accounts

 

[ChadR]

Here is another vote for Ally. I got tired of chasing after the highest yields (have used discover, ING, e-trade, etc) and Ally while not always the #1 is always very close to it. I enjoy the user interface on Ally, works well with quicken, and the few times I've contacted customers service (electronically, not phone call) they were very quick.

That said if most of this is emergency funds that you won't access for some time I recommend putting it in a 5 year Ally CD. Based on today's rates of 0.84% for the savings account and 1.5% for the 5 year CD then between month 4 and 5 the 5 year CD breaks even with the savings account and every month after 5 you make more holding the CD. This factors in the industry leading 60 day interest penalty for early withdrawal.

 

[enjoyinglife102]

I've been very happy with Ally as well. Their rates have been near the best for years. While other banks have been higher, inevitably they have lowered thier rates to below Ally's.

I agree with the Ally five year CD suggestion that has only a 2 months penalty but would add that you may want to open a few of them so if you need chunks of money, you won't have to break a one lump sum CD.

 

[grumpy]

I use Discover, CIT and Amtrust Direct. Amtrust currently has the best rate (1.01%) but their web site and customer service phone lines are not as good as I would like. Of the three, CIT Bank was the easiest to use and had the best customer support. I have all of these accounts linked for online transfers so I move the funds to whichever is giving the highest interest rate. I leave $100 in the other accounts to keep them open. Discover kept the interest rate fixed the longest but when they dropped if from .9% to .8% I moved the $ to CIT. CIT cut their rate after only a few months so I moved the $ to Amtrust.

 

[sengsational]

I'm sure someone here will find reason to differ with my choice for you, but why not wire 50k to three KASASA cash banks and get 1.25 APY on emergency cash? It would be FDIC protected, even if the bank resides in a podunk town somewhere. You would have to manage jumping through a few hoops, like using the debit card 10 times a month and making a transfer deposit, but we have time for that, hehe!

 

[sengsational]

You can find some good rates for rewards checking and CDs at this site:
High Yield Reward Checking Accounts - Compare reward checking account rates

 

[kaneohe]

I find TIAA Direct to be very easy to use - don't know if they still allow opening in their 0.75% account, but good bank to do transactions in. Was seduced by Barclays Online 0.9% savings (I'm a penny chaser) and opened an account with them. Thus far I find them more difficult to do deposits and transfers with - but we're making 0.015% more on the money that is in there!

math?

 

[Dancer373]

I use Ally and TIAA. Both have good websites and good rates.

 

[kaneohe]

Any experience w/ GE Capital Bank? (not GE Capital Retail Bank which apparently is separate )

 

[jon-nyc]

I just opened an account with them a while ago. So far, so good.

 

[jflynn4]

Been with Ally for a couple years now for both savings and actually moved checking. Can't beat it for traveling since they have $0 fees for using any ATM and refund all other bank fees (even if you're using a foreign ATM). They're paying more on checking than most brick and mortar banks pay on savings with no minimum.

Never have had a problem and they're open 24/7 on the phone if you have a question.

 

[jetpack]

+1 on Ally. Deposit checks with my phone. Checking/Savings/CDs. No fee interest checking account.

 

[Rex]

I use CIT Bank. They are an old commercial bank that recently opened an online only retail bank. I earn .85% on savings and they have CDs also. www.bankoncit.com